Rate this Company

1 Votes, Rating: 3

Write a Review of this Company

OpenTable

Profile

OpenTable is pretty much the only option when it comes to free online reservations in NYC, and it’s certainly effective when it comes to that. Simply type in a restaurant or neighborhood, time, # in your party etc, and OpenTable will tell you if it’s available or not. But you didn’t need me to tell you that. Despite what I think is a pretty good service, I do think there are a few things Opentable is good at and bad at.

Strengths

1) Making reservations way in advance when you have concrete plans.
2) Uncertain of where you want to eat, but you just want to see what’s available.
3) Reservation “squatting” — unsure of where you want to eat, but making reservations anyway so that you’ll at least have somewhere.
4) Making reservations at those annoying places that impose strict time restrictions on no. of days of advance reservation. Somehow it’s just easier online.

Weaknesses

1) Same-day reservations (better to call directly and see if there have been any cancellations)
2) Altering your existing reservation — again, need to add an extra person to your reservation? You’re better off calling the restaurant.
3) And the biggest one — restaurant “blind spot” syndrome — causing you to not think about restaurants that aren’t in their program (whether they accept reservations or not), as well as making it a three-step process instead of one. (Look restaurant up in Opentable, realize they’re not in Opentable, then look up info elsewhere, then call.)